"You can identify pretty quickly who has the potential to progress through to the national championships, and that's what they're looking to achieve."
Bryant was in Northland last month with an objective of unearthing talent and hopefully feeding that into the local clubs, which he feels he achieved.
He felt croquet could appeal to some because there were opportunities to progress in the sport quickly - as seen with the inclusion of a 13-year-old in the men's training squad.
"The national secondary schools programme is the catalyst for getting up here and talking to schools and introducing them to the game.
"While we're getting 10 per cent new members each year across the board, which is good comparatively to other sports, we're losing 9.9 per cent every year. We haven't got a sustainable membership so there's quite a drive on to develop youth croquet."
Bryant said he had been well received during his time in Northland, with more than 80 students turning out in Kaitaia to see what the sport was all about.
"I gave up counting at 86 students across the several sessions. It was just an introductory grab a mallet, hit a ball, and if they can get involved locally, they could go along to the nationals."
Many of the students said they were amazed at the skill required, but still thought the tactical game was fun and expressed the desire to play again which they hoped will take place sooner rather than later.
Bryant hoped there would be enough interest to develop a team to represent Kaitaia College at the secondary school championships in the future.
Kaitaia Croquet club captain Clyde Wood said the students' keenness to progress further in the sport would be well worth following up.
"One class said they wanted to come here for their end-of-year break up."
